


to cheat death

by curiouscorvid (prometheanTactician)



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Gen, I was reading about Sisyphus to find out what he did and got really angry on Than's behalf, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prometheanTactician/pseuds/curiouscorvid
Summary: "Sisyphus?" Zagreus sees his own brow furrow in the mirror. "I run into him sometimes in Tartarus. I know he's sentenced to roll a boulder up a steep incline for all eternity, and I know he named it Bouldy.""Do you know what earned him that punishment?"Zagreus opens his mouth to answer. To say he cheated death, and to argue he does not deserve such a harsh eternity. He opens his mouth, only to close it again. There is something sharp behind Thanatos' words. Something jagged, rusted, but no less harmful if it catches your skin."You know… Suddenly, I'm not sure I really do."
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 1414





	to cheat death

Wringers are deeply annoying.

Not all that tricky or dangerous, to Zagreus. Not compared to other shades he's battled. But getting all wrapped up in those chains is a nuisance, on the occasions that they catch him distracted, and it leaves him exposed to potentially more troublesome injury.

He tries to stay wary of them, especially when Thanatos is helping him. How humiliating it would be to lose their little contests because he was careless enough to get caught by a denizen of Tartarus. Still, with waves of enemies coming at them and the added pressure of trying to get some kills in before Thanatos can take them out in one hit? It's hard to keep track of the infernal chains whipping about.

He doesn't expect Thanatos to have similar problems.

Or rather, perhaps not similar. Because Thanatos clearly sees the chains rushing toward him. Zagreus sees his eyes widen, sees him tense.

Sees him freeze up.

The chains catch him hard in the side, but bind him tightly before he can be knocked away by the impact. The disembodied hand of the Wringer pulls the chains taut, and Zagreus knows Thanatos is something so much more than Zagreus himself is, but the expression on Than's face—

He doesn't need to breathe, but the sound he makes is choked in a way that cannot be from the chains, and Zagreus feels his own chest constrict. He feels his own heart in his throat. He's across the room in a quick dash, the Stygian blade slices through the Wringer's fingers, and the chains dissipate. Quick as that. Thanatos had barely been caught for even a moment, but that moment seems to have affected him deeply. He stares into nothing, his golden eyes still wide and somewhere far away, his mouth pressed into a tense, grim line. Zagreus is glad the Wringer was the last of them.

"Than?" He tries, unsure in a way he isn't used to. He has known Thanatos for his entire life, but he has never seen him like this.

Thanatos' lips part slightly, as if to respond, but no words leave him. A breath shudders out, visible fog in the stagnant air of the Underworld. Then he is gone.

\-----

Zagreus dies in Tartarus for the first time in ages. When he pulls himself out of the Styx, Hypnos meets his eyes and does something truly unheard of:

He says nothing. 

For a moment, at least.

He doesn't seem at all surprised to see Zagreus.

"He won't tell me what happened," he says when Zagreus approaches, launching straight into a quickly-spoken, worry-laden ramble. "I haven't seen him upset like that in so long, and I tried to help— He didn't even tell me off, he didn't say anything! What happened to you two out there?"

"I don't really know," Zagreus admits, and the concern gnawing at his heart matches the gleam in Hypnos' eyes. "He was helping me out in Tartarus, not that I have much trouble there these days, and one of the Wringers—"

Hypnos gasps, and the sound would seem exaggerated if not for the sheer horror shining in his eyes. Gold, like his brother, but liquid and warm rather than gleaming and cold.

"Oh… Oh, no," Hypnos looks around quickly, checking if he's being watched. He regards Hades sitting sentinel at his desk, his mouth twisting in a frown that doesn't seem right on him, despite sharing the same face as his ever-frowning twin brother. "I can't get away right now, can you go check on him Zagreus?"

"No need to ask, mate. If he's here, that's where I'm headed." He assures, and hands Hypnos a bottle of nectar. "Here. Seems like you'll need this. I'll let you know how he is."

Hypnos wishes him luck, and Zagreus hurries to the balcony.

It's empty.

"He came in," Achilles tells him when he asks. "But he never came this way. I'm not sure where he went, lad."

He isn't in the lounge either, and Meg hadn't even known he was home. Dusa saw him come in, but just as Achilles, she hadn't seen where he went. Nyx isn't in her corner, and after looking everywhere he can think of, Zagreus heads to his room at a loss.

Death is standing in Zagreus' bedroom.

He stands before the mirror, arms crossed tightly across his chest. The tense line of his shoulders makes Zagreus' heart ache and his hands clench uselessly. He wants to slide his palms along them, lower them, soothe him. But he isn't sure Thanatos could stand to be touched, just now.

"I didn't expect you back so soon," Thanatos tells him. His tone reveals nothing. There is no sign of whatever had been behind that chilled, trembling breath that still troubles Zagreus.

"I didn't expect to find you here," he says instead of admitting he had gotten himself killed on purpose. He isn't sure how Than would take that, but probably not well. "I…"

He comes up short. For all his single-minded need to find Than and be there for him, he has no idea what to say. What to do. How could he know what the right thing is, when he doesn't even know what truly happened?

"What do you know of Sisyphus?" Thanatos asks him suddenly, not turning away from the mirror. Zagreus approaches from behind him, and their eyes meet in the reflection. There is still something unsettled and unsettling in his expression. Something too-still. Too measured.

His question brings Zagreus up short with how completely out of nowhere it is. Is Thanatos so desperate to avoid speaking of what happened? 

"Sisyphus?" Zagreus sees his own brow furrow in the mirror. "I run into him sometimes in Tartarus. I know he's sentenced to roll a boulder up a steep incline for all eternity, and I know he named it Bouldy."

"Do you know what earned him that punishment?"

Zagreus opens his mouth to answer. To say he cheated death, and to argue he does not deserve such a harsh eternity. He opens his mouth, only to close it again. There is something sharp behind Thanatos' words. Something jagged, rusted, but no less harmful if it catches your skin. 

"You know… Suddenly, I'm not sure I really do."

Than's eyes lower for a moment, and then shut. Zagreus isn't sure what about his answer makes Than's shoulders relax a bit, but he's glad for it.

"... Ask Hermes," Than tells him, eyes still closed. "Next you see him. Ask him what Sisyphus did. Ask him what earned that man such a punishment."

"Hermes? Why would Hermes—"

There is a flash of green, and Thanatos is gone.

Zagreus hurries to his armory, gears up in a rush, and escapes out the window with only half mind to reach the surface.

This time, he is not looking for his mother.

\-----

The glowing wing that signifies a boon from Hermes glows orange in the red hues of Tartarus. Zagreus does not take it. Not yet. With the feather Hermes had given him, fully powered and fluttering in his hand as if blown by winds that do not exist in Tartarus. If he prays to Hermes before his boon while holding his keepsake… Zagreus' question should be able to reach him. Particular because he does not solely remain in Olympus.

"Hermes," he begins. "I have appreciated your help greatly, and… And I hope you could help me with something else as well. I have a question. Thanatos has told me to ask you… What Sisyphus did. I know he cheated death, but… But I've been led to believe there's more to it."

The sound of flapping wings, and a flash of orange.

"Wow, gotta tell you, Coz," Hermes begins in his usual rush of words. "Bit of a long story, that. I'm not much for long stories, you know, they take so— Well, so long and who has time for all of that? But Sisyphus… Well, that whole fiasco is a bit of an… exception. If Thanatos wants me to tell you, then that's what I'll do. He told me to fill you in anyway, just a bit ago."

And so, Hermes tells the tale.

He tells Zagreus of a king who thought himself above the gods. How he tricked the gods to avoid death. How Thanatos, relatively new to existence, had been sent by Hades to personally collect the wayward soul.

"I guess it was a bit of a tip-off," Hermes says. "Thanatos doesn't lead mortals down here, as you know. That's my job! And ol' Sisyphus knew that. I dunno exactly how it happened, I tried to ask Thanatos but he was just in such a state at the time… So I dunno exactly how it all shook out, but I know people stopped dying. Ares got really upset about that, and came complaining to me, as if it were my fault! So I head down to check it all out…"

There's a pause. Zagreus hasn't seen Hermes frown before, hasn't seen his brow pinch the way it does just before he continues.

"Thanatos was smaller, then did you know that?" He asks, and Zagreus thinks that's very cute but very unrelated. "I mean, he'd basically just come into existence, in the grand scheme of things. Hadn't fully come into his own, or reached his full potential. Cutest little thing, always trying to be so serious. I've always been fond of him, I suppose. He and his brother both, though I don't see Hypnos much anymore since he stopped following Thanatos everywhere. I guess that's why it was so… Upsetting? I dunno, Coz. When I found him… Don't think I've ever felt something like that before. An intense mix of dread, relief, pity, concern, anger… Or, rage, more like. I don't get angry often, Coz, but…"

"I found him, bound by Death's own chains. Too big for a tiny thing like him, meant for a grown man, and you've seen how big Sisyphus is. He was all torn up. Trying to fight your own power will do that to a god, and he was still so new… It took some doing to get him out. Even then, his power was something else, and even for me undoing the Chains of Death is a tall order. He wasn't crying— Honesty I'm not sure he can cry, but he was…"

Hermes shakes his head, at a loss.

"He hugged me, when I got him free. Clung like a koala— or, you don't know what those are, do you? Basically he gripped onto me tight as he could manage. The strain of it all was too much, he was absolutely sapped of power. I scooped him up, brought him back to the House of Hades… As much as Hypnos trailed after Thanatos back then, I'd never seen Thanatos do the same. But the moment they saw each other they were clinging, and Hypnos was crying so I guess Thanatos can cry in theory… But he didn't. He did hug his brother, though, and that was weird. Nyx was beside herself about the whole thing. Hades sent the First of the Furies to drag Sisyphus to the Underworld personally. The trial lasted for ages, trying to come up with a punishment harsh enough for harming Nyx's son. I couldn't stay for the whole thing, but I hear Hypnos made the final call. Dug into Sisyphus' worst nightmares, and saw him constantly working uphill to something he could never reach. He slept for a very long time, after that. Like I said, they were new-ish, and I guess nightmares are more intense. I worked double doing Thanatos' job and my own for a while there, so he could recover. No problem for me, of course. I told him when he came back that he could take more time, but he wouldn't hear of it. He asked me to never speak of what happened again. Until now, anyway."

"Anyway Coz, hope that was what you needed to know cause it's all I have time for. Gotta run! Enjoy your boon!"

Zagreus stares at the orange orb for ages after Hermes himself runs off. Sisyphus has been a friend to him, in his escape attempts. He has provided support, and been so kind. He has asked Zagreus to argue for a lightened sentence… Was it all a trick? He never mentioned that he'd trapped Thanatos. Does he even know Thanatos and Zagreus are close? Was all his kindness just an attempt to trick Zagreus, the way he had tricked Thanatos?

He remembers the way Thanatos had frozen, wide-eyed and the closest thing to frightened Zagreus had ever seen from him. Rage, fury, ire, lividity, simmer in his chest as surely as the flames of his feet. That anyone would dare harm Thanatos, and then try to circumvent justice—

But how long has Sisyphus been down here? Perhaps he has changed in that time.

If he had changed then he'd have been honest about what happened.

Perhaps he is ashamed.

If he is ashamed then why would he ask for clemency?

Because he is suffering.

He is. But so is Thanatos. Not as obviously, but what happened clearly still plagues Thanatos to this day. Perhaps it always will. Who is Sisyphus, to ask for leniency when he offered Thanatos nothing of the sort? To ask for freedom from his suffering, when Thanatos may never cease to suffer at his hand.

Zagreus doesn't know what to do or what to think. But he does know that for all his attempts to be kind and forgiving and everything his father is not… He cannot help the burning desire to punish any who would bring harm to those he loves. The need to bring vengeance onto whomever caused Thanatos harm is rivalled only by the need to hold Thanatos close and not let him go.

So Zagreus heads to the next chamber, and dearly hopes he will soon get the chance to do so.

**Author's Note:**

> So i haven't finished Sisyphus' storyline full disclosure
> 
> Regardless i hope people enjoy this! Please let me know what you think ^^


End file.
